Where I write about running, marathons, Home Ownership, DIY projects, marriage, raising twins, growing up Polish and other Mysteries of Life

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Just a little bit more to go

This week I finally reached my target weight of 200 lbs. When I got injured last year, I gained some weight because I was still eating like someone who ran 100 miles a month even though it was more like 30 miles a month. If you look at the calendar I use to log my miles, in Febraury I have entries showing my weight to be 211 lbs. What it doesn't show is January when I was as high as 218 lbs, but didn't log it because I was embarrassed. Naturally some of it was water weight, but it is safe to say I was at least 215 lbs.

It took signing up at the gym, eating better, consistently averaging 7+ hours of sleep and increasing my weekly running mileage to get those 15 lbs off. I wanted to get them off before marathon training began because contrary to popular belief, you don't really lose weight training for a marathon. In fact, your appetite increases because your body needs so much more fuel to handle those weekend LRs.

Could I have got the weight off sooner? Probably. But keep in mind that during the winter, your body is designed to store fat, not shed it. And while I did scale back on the comfort food, I didn't go crazy on the diet changes. Soup and Salad for lunch was a stable, but I would still grab an Italian Beef & Fries with co-workers to conduct Social Maintenance at the office. So I believe that I made the best compromise between losing some weight and also still enjoying life.

Optimally, I would like to get down to 190 lbs. I believe 195 is realistic over the course of the summer if I can keep up with the eating habits I invoked this year. The summer cookouts, street fests and trips to Ravina will compete with that, but the increase LR should also help. It's really gonna come down to having one or two solid weeks of pure discipline followed by relaxed but vigilant adhereance to my diet.